tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post8722609740383617627..comments2024-03-28T03:36:23.587-05:00Comments on Althouse: Obama has now been President for exactly 2 weeks.Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger127125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-65848434600311682442009-02-04T18:52:00.000-06:002009-02-04T18:52:00.000-06:00"theobromophile - Ahhhh, the cry-baby is back once..."theobromophile - Ahhhh, the cry-baby is back once again."<BR/><BR/>I wondered about that too.<BR/><BR/>I think some people, faced with an unanswerable argument, think that they can refer to that argument as "whining" and others will find that very smart and telling.<BR/><BR/>John - thinks looking awful is not equivalent to the press making things look awful. Some things may look awful even as the press are doing their level best to dress them up.Laura(southernxyl)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02880277733341078157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-30117783184242279712009-02-04T16:55:00.000-06:002009-02-04T16:55:00.000-06:00I will simply note that things have looked awful —...<I> I will simply note that things have looked awful — and that's with the press passionately on his side.</I><BR/><BR/>That's some odd reasoning. If the press is making things look awful, wouldn't it make more sense to conclude that the press is <I>not</I> "passionately on his side"?John Althouse Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11703450281424023177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-42818985643187953122009-02-03T23:43:00.000-06:002009-02-03T23:43:00.000-06:00I feel good. My greatest hopenchange has been rea...I feel good. My greatest hopenchange has been realized: the electorate is beginning to see him as a man, not a god--in fact, as a Chicago politician, which is a lower form of man. <BR/><BR/>Four years of necessary pain is worth it, to stop the cultification of this man.<BR/><BR/>And he's committed to saving Iraq and bombing terrorists. Good.PatCAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08920623662477828662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-48204517785684320082009-02-03T22:50:00.000-06:002009-02-03T22:50:00.000-06:00theobromophile - Ahhhh, the cry-baby is back once ...<I> theobromophile - Ahhhh, the cry-baby is back once again.</I><BR/><BR/>???? Michael, that doesn't even make logical sense. I've mentioned my dislike* for BHO exactly once on Althouse, which was a few hours ago. My response was jubilant, not sad. <BR/><BR/>So of those eight words, the only thing that you got right was my screen name. Maybe I can give you the "Ahhhh," which gets your "makes sense" average up to 0.25. Even in the major leagues, that's a crummy batting average. <BR/><BR/><BR/>*IIRC, I also gave the standard deviation of approval ratings for the past presidents, and compared them with those of Obama.theobromophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15720669155546526640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-50909842127026053772009-02-03T22:49:00.000-06:002009-02-03T22:49:00.000-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.theobromophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15720669155546526640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-52127617172067984642009-02-03T22:44:00.000-06:002009-02-03T22:44:00.000-06:00He's kept his promise. Gitmo will be closed.Little...<I>He's kept his promise. Gitmo will be closed.</I><BR/><BR/>Little-known fact: in English, the perfect and future tenses are interchangeable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-2523866631195830412009-02-03T22:10:00.000-06:002009-02-03T22:10:00.000-06:00FWIW, though, there's one thing Obama seems to hav...FWIW, though, there's one thing Obama seems to have down pat; inside baseball political knifework. If <A HREF="http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/kausfiles/archive/2009/02/01/gregg-s-vanity.aspx" REL="nofollow">Judd Gregg</A> opts to sell his soul for Obama's table scraps, it will be one of the finest bits of political gamesmanship I have ever seen.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12258486225193805658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-5370339744577493412009-02-03T21:53:00.000-06:002009-02-03T21:53:00.000-06:00Michael, re: the killer ice storm and Obama's resp...Michael, re: the killer ice storm and Obama's response:<BR/><BR/>"Katrina happened after Bush was in office for...oh...two years?"<BR/><BR/>Forget whether Bush should have been held accountable for local infrastructure. His response was bad PR, and I guess in a PR age that's a sin. <BR/><BR/>Your man Obama can't learn from other's experience? The press isn't going to be in the tank forever, Michael.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12258486225193805658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-22765578156916797112009-02-03T21:07:00.000-06:002009-02-03T21:07:00.000-06:00IMPEACH!!!!!!There, I was the first commentator, p...IMPEACH!!!!!!<BR/><BR/>There, I was the first commentator, probably, on any blog, anywhere, to use the dreaded "I" word against Barack.<BR/><BR/>For what, I don't know. I just want to be first.section9https://www.blogger.com/profile/08956773307014115891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-8673542723282436242009-02-03T21:01:00.000-06:002009-02-03T21:01:00.000-06:00Patm is right. I'm more than a bit disturbed that...Patm is right. I'm more than a bit disturbed that I haven't seen more stories about the aftermath of the ice storm. I'm in Arkansas, and I have friends who still don't have power. In parts of our state, people have no water and haven't for a week. Not good.Freeman Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16202310075717963694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-74689933564978213042009-02-03T20:47:00.000-06:002009-02-03T20:47:00.000-06:00Eli, spin? You say he's "kept his promise. Gitmo w...Eli, <I>spin</I>? You say he's "kept his promise. Gitmo will be closed." I don't believe that's any more or less likely than it was on January 19th. Maybe he will, maybe he won't - be he hasn't <I>yet</I>. It's not so much the delay - it might suffice if he had announced that Gitmo will close on _/_/2010 - setting a date that is concrete and self-executing with no further action, but it is absolutely clear that that is not the case here. Without further orders from Obama (or legislation from Congress), Gitmo will not close. That means that Obama has not yet kept his promise - he has simply (as Rev put it) re-promised it, in a more formal setting.<BR/><BR/>How would I liquidate gitmo? That's not a question you really want an answer to.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065798213115341398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-53263358220029770212009-02-03T20:23:00.000-06:002009-02-03T20:23:00.000-06:00He's kept his promise. Gitmo will be closed.He pro...<I>He's kept his promise. Gitmo will be closed.</I><BR/><BR/>He promised to close Gitmo. Now that he's President, he re-promised to close Gitmo. He will have "kept his promise" when Gitmo actually closes.<BR/><BR/>Until then, he's kept his promise about as well as George Bush kept his promise to fix Social Security.Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374515200055384226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-63902755878526841642009-02-03T19:22:00.000-06:002009-02-03T19:22:00.000-06:00Douchebag. I misspelled it as two words earlier, a...Douchebag. I misspelled it as two words earlier, along the lines of "Michael troll", if I recall correctly...The Dudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05354536924604187137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-7926021850046276352009-02-03T19:18:00.000-06:002009-02-03T19:18:00.000-06:00Patm:Good ones. No apology needed. Every so often ...Patm:<BR/><BR/>Good ones. No apology needed. <BR/><BR/>Every so often one of has to go postal on the duetschbag Michael.I'm Full of Souphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00241724007440718575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-119208893201637972009-02-03T19:04:00.000-06:002009-02-03T19:04:00.000-06:00Sorry I blew my stack. I have been reading too ma...Sorry I blew my stack. I have been reading too many forums. Time to go watch The Simpsons until my brain irons out.Patmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17884455503379229264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-37620784893730218892009-02-03T18:59:00.000-06:002009-02-03T18:59:00.000-06:00Simon,He's kept his promise. Gitmo will be closed....Simon,<BR/><BR/>He's kept his promise. Gitmo will be closed. What is your problem with that?<BR/><BR/>Obviously it will take a few months because they have to, starting from scratch, examine each case and decide whether to release the prisoner, transfer them to a site in the U.S. and charge them, or what other options they may be looking at.<BR/><BR/>How would you do it? Just open the cells and march them to the fence around the base and tell them to keep on walking into Cuba?<BR/><BR/>Obama is keeping his promise to close Gitmo (which he said he'd do.) Your spin is pretty wild.Eli Blakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743206074537073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-9784079201025620312009-02-03T18:55:00.000-06:002009-02-03T18:55:00.000-06:00A list of all the lobbyists and former lobbyists b...A list of all the lobbyists and former lobbyists being employed by the Administration that "will not employ lobbyistst."<BR/><BR/>Hotair is right to note that Daschle is a lobbyist, too.<BR/><BR/>http://hotair.com/archives/2009/02/03/the-list-of-lobbyists-in-the-obama-administration/<BR/><BR/>But he did close Gitmo, and he's sure not going to waterboard anyone unless he really has to.Patmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17884455503379229264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-37612105001746110122009-02-03T18:46:00.000-06:002009-02-03T18:46:00.000-06:00Michael said:Katrina happened after Bush was in of...Michael said:<BR/>Katrina happened after Bush was in office for...oh...two years?<BR/><BR/>The dumb just keep getting dumber.<BR/> * * * * * *<BR/><BR/>God, you're stupid. Katrina happened in 2005, not 2003. And Bush was hardly lost. Do you really want to go through the catalogue of things Bush got right and Nagin and Blanco murderously wrong?<BR/><BR/>No, you don't. You don't want to hear it and I won't waste it on you. If you wanted to know you could find it easily enough.<BR/><BR/>You prefer your ignorance and your fake narratives.<BR/><BR/>And you call others dumb. <BR/><BR/>You know what? You're not worth talking with. All you know how to do is repeat slogans; you can't think.<BR/><BR/>You should think about that. It's no way to go through life.Patmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17884455503379229264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-10518445189618441732009-02-03T18:43:00.000-06:002009-02-03T18:43:00.000-06:00Michael wrote:Patm - The entire Midwest and East C...Michael wrote:<BR/>Patm - The entire Midwest and East Coast is experiencing all kinds of terrible weather.<BR/><BR/>You're not suggesting Obama get into a plane and fly over half the United States because of a winter storm...are you?<BR/>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * <BR/><BR/>Listen up, you hateful, unthinking little Obamabot apologist: the people in Kentucky and the Appalachians have been without power for over a week. They are running out of food, they don't have water, they don't have heat. 55 of them have died. Those are people dead - someone's wife, someone's father, someone's kid. Are you going to be so dismissive about it?<BR/><BR/>Rescue workers have said there are many places they can't get to, and they don't even know if more are dead. FEMA was late getting there because (as with Katrina and the water) the ice made it impossible. All that being said, when a president declares a place a disaster area, as Obama has, then he has a duty - as president - to go LOOK OVER THE FUCKING AREA and MAKE HIS PRESENCE KNOWN TO THOSE PEOPLE.<BR/><BR/>Or, let me simplify it for you: if the exact same situation was occuring, and Bush was entertaining the congress with 100lb steak, going to the Alfalfa club for cocktails with Palin and watching the Super Bowl and yukking it up with Matt Lauer, you'd be SCREAMING because he was not "helping those poor people in Kentucky!" In fact, Lauer would be snarling about it, himself.<BR/><BR/>But maybe I'm being too hard on you as you blithely yawn away people's lives because its your party in charge - the truth is you probably don't even know anything about this, or that a quarter of a million people may not have power for a month or more, because the press has ignored the story. What's a bunch of dead freezing rednecks, after all. They don't go to Hahvahd.Patmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17884455503379229264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-21087079864680759132009-02-03T18:34:00.000-06:002009-02-03T18:34:00.000-06:00Eli Blake said... "[He's] kept his promise to orde...Eli Blake said... <BR/>"<I>[He's] kept his promise to order Gitmo closed.</I>"<BR/><BR/>I thought he promised to close gitmo. I didn't realize he promised to promise to close it a year hence. That's the second President in a row to be embarassed by a "mission accomplished" banner, and I'll tell you, it doesn't look any better when the banner is metaphorical.<BR/><BR/>"<I>Signed the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first piece of legislation passed by Congress and sent to his desk.</I>"<BR/><BR/>Sure, because strapping a time bomb to the bottom of every enterprise in America - and threatening to actually <I>undermine</I> Title VII - is a sensible thing to do in a recession.<BR/><BR/>"<I>Met with Republicans about the stimulus plan. Presidents Bush I, Clinton and Bush II never made a visit to Capitol Hill to talk turkey with the opposition.</I>"<BR/><BR/>Presidents Bush I, Clinton and Bush II never made a visit to Capitol Hill to get a photo op with the opposition leadership while offering nothing that could remotely be construed as an attempt at bipartisanship - and neither has President Obama.<BR/><BR/>"<I>the Biden task force will be ... carried live....</I>"<BR/><BR/>Brilliant leadership by Obama, B.H.: he's going to put Joe Biden on <I>television</I>. Impressive shit.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065798213115341398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-4582940229779329852009-02-03T18:28:00.000-06:002009-02-03T18:28:00.000-06:00Here is an unoriginal thought.The immediacy and ha...Here is an unoriginal thought.<BR/><BR/>The immediacy and harsh velocity of information and news is frigging astounding. There is no such thing as a honeymoon anymore even for Obama.I'm Full of Souphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00241724007440718575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-72940104810810821472009-02-03T18:18:00.000-06:002009-02-03T18:18:00.000-06:00Now, I voted for Obama, so I feel compelled to say...<I>Now, I voted for Obama, so I feel compelled to say that things would be at least as bad if John McCain were President right now. I never got caught up in the hope-n-change unicorns-n-rainbows, so I don't particularly expect or need to feel good. I will simply note that things have looked awful — and that's with the press passionately on his side.</I><BR/><BR/>Let me suggest that this is wishful thinking on your part, likely somewhere between denial and cognitive dissonance. <BR/><BR/>First, there is no indication that McCain would have been so tone deaf as to the ethics of his appointees. McCain has worried about ethics at least since the Keating scandal. Also, the Republicans seem much better at vetting their cabinet nominees, which Bush (43) only having possible problems with one nominee, who, after withdrawing her nomination was later exonerated. <BR/><BR/>Secondly, a McCain election would have continued the divided government that seems to work best for us. Indeed, a lot of those Senate seats that flipped probably wouldn't have - but the Democrats would have had majorities in both houses of Congress. Just not nearly as big of majorities. And with divided government, instead of the gross overreaching we have seen with the larger Democratic majorities in Congress, we would have seen actual bipartisanship. <BR/><BR/>Thirdly, McCain actually knows how Congress works, having been there for more than 4 years (and in a senior position, as compared to the former back bencher from Ill). He wouldn't have been rolled by Pelosi, Obey, et al. with their "stimulus" bill. <BR/><BR/>Fourthly, McCain actually knows how to work with the opposing party, as evidenced by numerous major bills he has his name on with prominent Democrats (e.g. Kennedy, Feingold, etc.), as well as being the lead Republican in the Gang of 14.Bruce Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10815293023158025662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-24053626989046492302009-02-03T18:02:00.000-06:002009-02-03T18:02:00.000-06:00Death toll in Kentucky is up to 55.Those people ha...<I>Death toll in Kentucky is up to 55.<BR/><BR/>Those people have had a hell of a time for 8 or 9 days now and the press hasn't even asked why Obama hasn't flown over the area to at least check it out.</I><BR/><BR/>Where's FEMA when you need it?Bruce Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10815293023158025662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-68818190013033171802009-02-03T17:59:00.000-06:002009-02-03T17:59:00.000-06:00Bart DePalma - "Unsurprisingly, the inexperienced ...Bart DePalma - "Unsurprisingly, the inexperienced Obama appears to be more than a little lost."<BR/><BR/>And this is based on his first 14 days in office?<BR/><BR/>Katrina happened after Bush was in office for...oh...two years?<BR/><BR/>The dumb just keep getting dumber.Robertohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15134027971098573102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-30918744257078590732009-02-03T17:57:00.000-06:002009-02-03T17:57:00.000-06:00theobromophile - Ahhhh, the cry-baby is back once ...theobromophile - Ahhhh, the cry-baby is back once again.<BR/><BR/>If only we could go back to those golden Bush years...Robertohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15134027971098573102noreply@blogger.com